Dayton boys win on buzzer beater

If there were 4.2 seconds left, the game would have gone into overtime. But thankfully for the Dayton High boys basketball team, there were 4.3 seconds left.

That’s all the time that Matt Bowman needed to drive the length of the floor and pass off for a layup by Adam Diament at the buzzer to give Dayton a 61-59 win over Fernley on Wednesday.

“It was literally at the buzzer,” said Dayton coach Rob Streeter about Diament’s basket.

Dayton (9-9, 5-5) came into Wednesday’s game one game behind Lowry for third place in the Northern 3A. If Lowry lost to Rite of Passage on Wednesday, the Dust Devils and Buckaroos would be tied for third. The top six teams make the Northern 3A playoffs.

“We’re in pretty good shape right now to qualify for the playoffs,” Streeter said. “We’re starting to play a little bit better.”

The Dust Devils continued to receive strong play off the bench from Josh Aaker and Trent Wood, Aaker scored 16 points and Wood added 10 points.

Their play helped overcome the three-point shooting of Fernley, who hit nine threes. Derek Henry hit three threes on his way to scoring 16 points and Shaun Lee hit four threes on his way to scoring 16 points.

The game was close throughout with Dayton leading 15-14 after one quarter, 34-33 at halftime and 51-45 after three quarters. Fernley came back to take a 59-57 lead before Diament scored to tie the game 59-59 with 20 seconds left.

Bowman scored 10 points and Diament added eight points. “It was just a great high school game,” Streeter said.